THE tried and trusted chequebook must be kept despite the rise of online banking and debit cards, a survey found yesterday.

Two in three bank customers believe customers should still be offered the choice of paying by paper.

The resounding show of support was revealed even though one person in five has never written a cheque, market research firm Mintel discovered.

The poll comes after the Payments Council – the banks’ trade body – was forced into an embarrassing U-turn and scrapped plans to axe chequebooks from October 2018.

Last year MPs said banks and building societies should be stripped of the power to decide on the future of cheques. And the Treasury Select Committee called for cheque guarantee cards to be reintroduced.

At the time consumer rights campaigners welcomed the move to keep chequebooks. Which? magazine called it “a victory for common sense.”

With banks closing three branches a week, Age UK has campaigned against the demise of the cheque saying older people are uncomfortable using debit cards and PIN numbers.

People want chequebooks and they are the customer so their views count

Andrew Tyrie, the select committee’s chairman

The charity’s director general, Michelle Mitchell, said: “This survey is further evidence that the public, particularly older people, feel secure with cheques and want to be able to use them when they need to.

“Payment systems are essential services upon which the public rely. They need to be trusted and easy to use for everyone. Their future must not be left solely to the banking industry and its representative bodies to determine.”

Andrew Tyrie, the select committee’s chairman, said: “This confirms what we have been saying. People want chequebooks and they are the customer so their views count.”

He added that it was not just the elderly who liked to use cheques. Charities would also be badly hit too if chequebooks were withdrawn.

The Mintel poll found that youngsters were least likely to have used cheques, with more than half of under-25s having never written one.

Toby Clark, head of financial services at Mintel, said: “There’s a strong conservative streak among the British public, as confirmed by the outcry and subsequent climbdown when banks tried to withdraw support for chequebooks.

“The issue of payment fraud is absolutely central when it comes to convincing consumers to adopt new payment methods.”